


Nine Chances, Nine Lives

by Akiko_Natsuko



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blood and Injury, Cat Sidhe!Jack, Death, First Meetings, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Superstition, human!Gabriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24856909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: Nine chances, Nine lives.Nine dances around the wheel.Nine chances, Nine lives.Nine times a witch can heal.Jack was old. He had stretched his first eight lives across centuries, but now he was on his last, and in search of another chance.
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Comments: 1
Kudos: 57





	Nine Chances, Nine Lives

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that if you want to talk to me about my fics and writing, or anime/shows/games in general then you can now find me on discord [The Unholy Trinity](https://discord.gg/jdpcfy6XTB).

_Nine chances, Nine lives._

_Nine dances around the wheel._

_Nine chances, Nine lives._

_Nine times a witch can heal._

It was a chilly night. Quiet apart from a soft, tinkling sound as of bells dancing in the breeze. Even that was muffled by the haar that had rolled in with the rising moon. It was into this peaceful world that the cat appeared. Detaching itself from the shadows beside a bungalow, darting soundlessly up the path and up onto the window ledge where it could peer inside. Blue eyes glowing as he watched the humans inside, the imminence of their grief a siren call that had reached him even miles away, and if he had been human then, Jack would have grinned. Instead, a purr rumbled in the back of his throat as he studied the open window. The humans had grown foolish, forgetting the old stories, or not quite he realised, ears twitching as bells sounded on the wind.

A lesser Cat Sidhe might have been distracted, but Jack was old. He had stretched his first eight lives across centuries, and it was easy to bury the instinct to chase the sound. Tail flicking behind him, wondering if he should re-educate the humans, before dismissing it. It was no fault of his that they had forgotten, besides it made his task much easier and he bared his teeth in a feline smirk, muscles bunching before he sprang up and through the open window. There were no charms to hold him at bay. No songs to break his focus, and inside the sound of the bells was muted. He almost pitied them as landed on the bed, staring into the wizened features of his prey. Mortality was never kind, but there was an acceptance in her expression that he rarely saw, and he tilted his head as her eyes met his.

She saw him.

The woman seeing him as she hovered on the edge of passing, while the now weeping people around her were blind to his presence. It had been a long time since anyone had seen him. Even those who did usually dismissed him as a shadow, but there was recognition in her eyes. A spark of the old ways. Jack almost regretted what he was going to do, as there were few enough who believed these days. But her life was fading as they stared at one another, and he stepped onto her stomach. She smiled and reached for him, and although his ears went flat, he allowed it. She was giving herself to him, and he couldn’t let that pass unacknowledged, leaning into her hand for a moment and purring his gratitude, feeling her fingers tighten.

“Nine chances, nine lives…” Her voice was barely a whisper, but it brought the room to a standstill, the humans staring at her in confusion and Jack frozen, eyes wide at the old rhyme. It was impossible, yet he could see it in her expression. _She knew._ Her hand fell away, freeing him to step up on her chest and chase the fluttering butterfly that was her soul, and yet he couldn’t. She knew what he was, and the desperation fueling him. It shouldn’t have stopped him. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to collect her soul even if it had been offered, and with a frustrated yowl, he fled just as the first sob filled the room.

*

The words chased him, laced with the tinkling of bells as he’d faded into the haar, trying to put as much distance between himself and her voice as possible. He was hungry and angry, the loss of the soul taunting him. Why had he backed down? Was it her respect for the old ways? Or had his sometimes humanity corrupted him?

Later, he would wonder whether it was his own thoughts that had blinded him to sound of approaching danger.

Instead, all he knew was pain, as something larger than him was on him in a flash of teeth, and low, rumbling growls. Jack yowled as teeth raked his back, lashing out with teeth and claws, clamping down on the urge to transform back to his human form. He was bleeding, feeling it dripping through his fur when his claws finally raked across something soft, and there was an awful yelping cry before e was released. Jack realised it was a dog as he bolted, slipping through shadow to put more distance between them. But he was bleeding. Fading. Losing his grip on his magic, he stumbled from the shadows, managing a couple of steps before he collapsed.

****

Gabriel was breathing heavily as he reached his garden gate, pausing to catch his breath, the chilly air catching in his throat. He’d almost stayed home when he’d seen the haar, but he was a creature of habit, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’d run in the fog. He shivered, fumbling with the latch, thinking longingly of the coffee he’d put on to brew earlier, and that was why he almost stumbled over the figure sprawled across his path. Cursing, his eyes widened as he took in the bloodied creature. It was a cat he realised as he moved closer, although larger than any he had ever seen before, and black, without the slightest trace of grey or white anywhere on its body. It was also severely injured, and for a horrible moment, he thought that it had crawled into his garden to die, before noticing the ragged rise and fall of its chest.

Crouching, he reached out, not sure if it was even safe to move the poor creature but unwilling to leave it out here, when its eyes snapped open. He had never seen eyes that blue, especially in a cat, and for a moment it felt as though he was being judged, before the cat mewed pitifully at him, the sound propelling him into motion.

“Easy, easy,” he murmured, unsurprised when claws swiped his hand. It was easily ignored, as was the low warning rumble as he scooped the cat up and cradled it, feeling how it trembled. “What happened to you?” He asked, glancing across his garden as though expecting to find the answer there, but there was nothing. Not even a blood trail, he realised with a frown. Had someone done this deliberately and dumped the cat in his garden? He didn’t want to think that there was anyone like that in the village, but it was possible. There would be hell to pay if they had, but for now, the cat was more important, and he headed inside, hoping that he still had Dr Ziegler’s number somewhere even though it had been a couple of years since he’d lost his dog Reaper. “It’s okay, we’ll get you patched up.”

**

Jack had no idea what was going on.

He’d been sure that he was dying, and he’d accepted it. He was on his ninth life, so he could either die a cat or live our one last lifetime as a human. That was why he’d been hunting. Desperation sending him after an old myth, that said a Cat Sidhe who collected enough souls could barter the old gods, for one more feline life.

Waking up had been a surprise, especially when he’d realised that he was still a cat, although he could feel the pull to transform to ensure that he survived. More surprising had been the human crouched over him, staring directly at him. _He can see me?_ What kind of village was this, where even those whose soul wasn’t ready to cross over could see him? It had been instinct more than anything that made him strike out as the man had scooped him up, and he knew that he’d drawn blood, but he wasn’t dropped. Instead, the human was soothing him and promising him that he would be okay. Helpless to fight him, death a spectre hovering on the edge of his vision as he remained stubbornly feline, Jack had no choice but to trust him.

*****

Jack feigned a doze as his saviour bustled around the kitchen humming. _A very strange human,_ he thought, tail twitching. He’d woken a couple of days ago wrapped in the softest blankets he’d ever encountered, heavily bandaged and sore, with the man crouched in front of him. Jack had hissed at him, and the human had laughed as though he hadn’t just been threatening him, endlessly patient and gentle, even when Jack had lashed out. He remembered the attack and finding himself in this human’s hands. It was the space in between that escaped him, and made him uneasy, but not as much as the realisation that he was at this man’s mercy, his magic just out of reach.

That had forced him to accept the help being offered, and Jack had found himself relaxing as they settled into a pattern. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt comfortable around a human, and he wasn’t sure what it was about the man. His gentleness was appreciated, as was the food, and the warmth that left him sleepy and comfortable, but that shouldn’t be enough. Maybe it was his voice, soft and soothing, so different from the whisper and tinkling bells that haunted him even now.

“So, when are you going to tell me what you are?” Jack startled at the voice. Not because of the suddenness of it, but because when he blinked, it was to find the human sat cross-legged in front of him. He looked relaxed, there was a sharpness to his gaze that demanded answers. Jack meowed, even as his heart raced. It was one thing to be seen, it was another for the human to know that he was something more. “I can see you. I can touch you.” He reached out and bopped Jack on the nose with a finger. “You eat, you sleep, and you bleed, so I know that you’re alive. Yet, when I took you to the vets, no one but me could see you. In fact, I’m still waiting for Angela to come and question my sanity again.”

Jack’s ears went flat. _Vets?_ He wasn’t sure if he was horrified or amused by the thought of being taken to a vet, and it confused him, as did this strange human who had cared enough to try and find him help. And who hadn’t thrown him aside as soon as he realised that he wasn’t a proper cat. He could count on one paw the number of times that had happened over his lifetimes, and it stopped him from fleeing, even as the feeling of being discovered pressed in on him.

_Nine chances, nine lives…_

The rhyme echoed through his mind again. His ninth and last life looming over him. _Nine times around the wheel._ The world was spinning now. Human and feline lives blending together with the beat of his heart, bells chiming in his head as he yowled, each toll a tug on his soul, a demand for him to shift. He didn’t want to change. He…

A hand came to rest on his head, slowly stroking him, and he lifted his head to find the human smiling at him.

“You’re a strange one,” he said, echoing Jack’s thoughts. He seemed intrigued rather than angry, and Jack tested him, leaning into the touch. “Just don’t curse me or try to kill me and you can stay as long as you like, and if you want to tell me who and what you are then I will be all ears.” Jack had made a livelihood from listening to human’s intent, weaving his magic to the tune of their wishes, and he could find no lie in those words. No ill intention. Just acceptance and curiosity, a balm against Jack’s wary soul, and for a moment at least the idea of transforming back didn’t seem so terrifying.

_Nine times a witch can heal…_


End file.
